This is a collection of really elegant "virtual manipulatives" created with funding from the National Science Foundation. These manipulatives are Java applets, so they may take a minute to load on a dial-up connection. They provide students with a challenging online way to reinforce math concepts in many content areas.

In the Classroom

Use this site to supplement almost any math lesson, grades pre-k through high school. Open the site on the interactive whiteboard or projector, and find the appropriate lesson aid for your classroom. This site can be used to introduce a variety of lesson plans, so be sure to explore the site previous to use.

Puzzles are highly motivational tools that capture the imaginations of students. To infiltrate the classroom with a vibrant brand of problem solving, this site offers a tantalizing educational bait-and-hook in the form of a new puzzle each month. Clearly illustrates puzzles and solutions. These ae not online interactives. The puzzles are explained in words or images on the web page. Some have downloadable pdf printables, as well.

This fun site offers a retrospective on Rube Goldberg's wacky inventions and includes examples of how present-day engineering students devise 20-step ways of accomplishing simple tasks. The site is a great "idea site" for students getting used to invention and problem solving.

In the Classroom

Review the invention pictures included on this site on a projector or whiteboard as an activator activity for an inventions unit. Have students draw or design their own machine for performing a similar every-day task.

This collection - part of an extensive site from Australia's Questacon museum - includes lots of optical illusions and deceptively simple puzzles designed to challenge perceptual abilities, logic, and higher-order thinking skills. It's a great place to send that student who's always ready for the next challenge.

In the Classroom

Include this site on your teacher web page for students to access outside of class when they are looking for an extra mind-bending challenge. Also consider sharing this site with your teaching colleagues who work with gifted students.

This Mensa challenge includes problems and questions designed to challenge thinkers at all levels. Taken online, the challenge takes approximately 30 minutes to complete. However, the site can be used as a whole, or teachers can use one or two questions at a time to challenge students.

In the Classroom

This site offers a great mental workout for gifted students or other students who seem to need an added challenge in the classroom. Include this site on your teacher website so that such students may access it outside of class.

This site boasts a collection of visually impressive math and logic brain-busters to challenge your class puzzlemasters. The collection changes from time to time, and the game-quality graphics make the site especially attractive to those who have grown up on video games.

In the Classroom

Include this site on your teacher web page for students to access outside of class for additional mindstretching practice.
Also consider sharing this site with your teaching colleagues who work with your gifted students.

This collection of surprisingly devlish illusions, mind-games, and other tricks will stump curious students. Most of these puzzles require little or no equipment, making them great for quick, indoor activities. If you have students who need an extra challenge, send them here.

This site by Exploratorium offers a new twist on an old favorite. Droodles are a combination of a riddle and a doodle, and this site lets students solve the riddles and draw their own on-screen. Besides being fun, the site helps build memory, drawing, and thinking skills.

This site contains hundreds of challenging with puzzles sorted by type and level of difficulty. Some puzzles challenge math skills, while others are more traditional mind-benders. You may want to preview the puzzles for level of difficulty to avoid student frustration.

This Dutch site is full of information about the deceptively simple oriental game of go. The site contains listings of competitions, rules, and all manner of resources for players. If you're a go fan, this site is for you.

Although the commands take some time to get used to, this site allows students to build block structures using simple programming commands. Once students get the hang of it, this graphical site provides an interesting way to merge art and technology as students design block towers.

In the Classroom

Make a shortcut to this site on your desktop and use it as a center. Consider conducting an electronic block-castle building competition and having students email you pictures of their completed projects.

This collection of Java-based puzzles should be sufficient to challenge even the most devoted of your "puzzle people." There are computer-based versions of Mastermind, Rubik's cube, and nearly a dozen other thinking and reasoning games. Each offers its own set of logic and mathematical challenges. This is a great site for students who need an extra challenge.

Here's a simple animated version of the classic puzzle involving the farmer who needs to move the grain, the chicken, and the fox across the river safely. See how quickly your students can figure out a solution that doesn't result in anyone getting eaten! This site requires the shockwave plug-in. Get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page..

This site offers a strangely captivating collection of trivia, factoids, and other information served up in a way that keeps users asking for more. There are daily word and fact selections, as well as quizzes and other games to challenge students' knowledge of off-beat facts. Great site for energetic brains, or well-read students who want to show how much they know. There are a lot of advertisements on throughout this site; warn younger students to avoid them.

In the Classroom

Share this site on your teacher web age for students to access for some intellectual fun outside of class. Include it in your collection of links for one or two minute fillers when an activity ends early or to inspire curiosity during supervised study halls.

In the Classroom

Entry into the competition requires each team to purchase a membership. However, this is a great resource and opportunity for teachers who work regularly with gifted students needing an additional challenge. Consider purchasing such a membership for your students, or pass the site along to a fellow teacher who works regularly with such students.

In the Classroom

Keep this bookmarked for a variety of ideas to update your curriculum continually to keep it fresh and intriguing. The technology tutorials can teach old dogs new tricks, or also help young dogs find new tricks. Allow your students to choose from a variety of project ideas for their highest level of motivation. Add as a resource on your web site for fun sites for your students to explore. Use many tools given in tutorials to make your presentations sizzle, for students, teachers, or other audiences. Challenge gifted students with brainteasers, puzzles, accelerated curriculum, or ACT/SAT prep.

This site offers several different resources for math practice. The Investigations portion contains several different activities to practice critical thinking and problem solving skills. Investigations included are number squares, leapfrog, diagonal differences, and more. Games include word search, broken calculator, mathionaire, and others providing practice with basic number operations and problem solving. Test Yourself provides quizzes for functions, number properties, Pythagoras Theorem, and Algebra. The Revise portion of this site provides review and practice for different math skills such as making pie charts, using a protractor, and solving linear equations. Teachers may also want to check out the Resources section for downloadable stationary, puzzles, and worksheets.

In the Classroom

Make a shortcut to this site on classroom computers and use it as a center. Have students try out this site on individual computers, or as a learning center. Challenge students to complete the Investigations in the site, then write about their thinking process in Math journals or on the class wiki. Not comfortable with wikis? Check out the TeachersFirst's Wiki Walk-Through.

This site provides practice with patterns, relations, and functions through the tale of the the Tortoise and the Hare. The amount of the tortoise's head-start can be changed, then take the racers through the various stages to find out who wins! Students will enjoy predicting the winner while watching the race unfold. The instructor's section provides detailed information on standards addressed, classroom questions, and links to similar resources. There is also a link to downloadable exploration questions that can be used in conjunction with the site.

In the Classroom

Provide students with a copy of the explorations questions to complete alone or with a partner. Use on your interactive whiteboard for a quick 5 minute filler, change the amount of the tortoise's head-start each time to offer different outcomes each time. Ask students to predict the outcome of each race before beginning, allow changes midway, and discuss what is happening to change students' opinions.